The First day!!

Having asked several people for directions, I slowly made my way to my new classroom. Right outside the main building hung a huge brass bell which I guessed must be used for announcing the end of the lessons. The first thing I noticed, upon entering the main building, was a magnificent staircase! It was very wide with a gleaming, polished and stylish wooden banister on both the sides and grey coloured steps. As it rose, it split into two directions, both leading to the first floor . There was a huge landing in the middle from where the stairs divided. A large aquarium was placed on the landing behind which a large painting hung proudly on the wall. I saw that all the white walls of the building were adorned with beautiful paintings by various artists   and also, the pots of green plants kept at regular distances besides the wall gave the interior a pleasant and a lively look. Two corridors on the either side of the staircase had the entrances of numerous classes open on to them!

The bag on my back swung rhythmically as I hesitantly wended my way towards my classroom amidst the swarming students. I stooped for a fleeting moment at each doorway to read the board above each class to find the one in which I belonged. Then, right at the end of the east corridor I finally found it!!-  CLASS-VIII! This was it! I felt my heart pound as I pushed aside the curtains covering the doorway and entered the class! The classroom was large and the view from the windows delightful! There were wide, dark-blue desks each with four matching blue chairs. The blackboard was not black at all but a pale shade of green. Half of it was plain and the other half had squares like graph paper-  obviously to be used for mathematics. A long, steel chest with shelves, which were completely empty at that moment, covered most of one side of the class! I was fascinated by a little round enclosed area diagonally opposite the door, which I soon discovered  later was the gift of the castled- shape interior to the four classes situated at the each corner of the building! 

The class was filled with chattering and laughing boys and girls who were creating a racket in the temporary absence of a teacher. Some boys were playing with a small ball made of a handkerchief. As I gingerly stepped in to this scene they all noticed me and stared as I passed them. I felt like an alien from mars whom earthlings were looking over to  assess ! I recognized one face .That of a dusky girl from my bus! She came over  to where I was sitting  on an empty, secluded chair. “Hi!!”, she said “ My name is Pari ! I saw you in the bus and wondered if you were in our class. What’s your name?” Some of my tension subsided as I answered her questions. She took the chair besides me and started enquiring about my previous school. The rest of the class had gone back to their previous activities, occasionally turning their heads to steal a glance at me! I was grateful for Pari’s company and soon got into a comfortable banter with her. I also greeted another girl  ,Ankita Banerjee, who had been my classmate in my previous school years ago!! We greeted each other and eventually, I began to relax. My “ fearful” phase was over! I had found my class, made a couple of acquaintances and had overcome all the “that’s - a -new- girl!” looks without any mishaps.

The arrival of two teachers immediately lowered the noise level of the class. There was an instantaneous scraping and screeching of the chairs as all the students took their seats! I sat down with Pari and she showed me how to place my bag in the cubby-hole of the desk. As the class quietened down, I studied the two teachers who had come to the front of the class! One of them was tall and slender and had a smiling face. She seemed to be in her early forties and was dressed in a pink and orange salwaar-kameez! The second teacher  , who had on a bottle green salwar kameez, was a plump, rosy faced lady. She checked the attendance register ,not using her glasses which were comfortably perched on top of her head. Pari whispered in my ear-“The ma’am in pink is Mrs Seema Johri. She takes Geography and the other one is Mrs Sandhya Pandey! She teaches Math! They must be our class-teachers for this session!